The Time War Chronicles: Challenge From the Past
by Cell's Twin Sister Celita
Summary: Imagine returning to your darkest moment...with the power to change the past... Our heroes get warped back in time to the Cell Games!
1. We're Back In Time! Insane Super Saiyan?...

I don't own any of this. I don't own the theme song from Donkey Kong 64, either. But I do own the changed version.  
The Time War Chronicles Part 1: Challenge from The Past  
They found themselves standing all together atop a high grassy plateau. It was a sunny day and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Down by the plateau's base, a small square patch of bare rock was visible. Four turrets rose from the perimeter, one in each corner. A dark form stood in the center. A group of fifty people stood off to one side, engaging each other in practice fights to see which of them would go up first. On the other side was a group of eight. Jadeite stepped forward and said, "Hey… I know this place…" Walking to the edge of the plateau, she peered down at the scene below and then exclaimed loudly, "Oh my God! We've just made a trip back in time!" Shade stepped up beside her and said, "What the heck just happened to us, Jadeite? Where in the world are we now?" Jadeite pointed down and replied, "Take a look down there. You'll see." He looked where she indicated for a moment, and then yelled, "Holy cow! We're in a parallel dimension or something! This place…we're seeing the initial warm-ups right before the Cell Games!" Cell looked confused at his shouted words. So did everyone else. Jadeite saw their confusion and explained to them calmly, "We've all crossed over into a parallel universe and arrived right before the Cell Games." Cell then stepped forward, completely perplexed, and interrupted, "But…but I'm me!" "So is he," Jadeite replied with a patient smile, "He's a different version of you. A double, so to speak. But he's very different from you. He is as Jade Falcon was." Shade poked her on the shoulder and asked her, "So we're here for the Cell Games. Now what do we do?" Jadeite stepped away from him, gestured expansively and replied in an urgent voice; "We have a tremendous opportunity lying before us right now. We can change the world…this world. We can change what is the past for us. We can act to stop Cell before he kills anyone in this tournament…" Shade practically tackled her after she said that. Eye to eye with her, screamed right in her face, "You want us to fight him?" She smiled at his wild reaction to her last words. "Not you," she said, "Me." Shade practically jumped on top of her. He screamed, "You alone? No way!" She replied, "Relax. I'll change to Laura and face him as her. I'll have all of my power, but he'll think I'm a pushover. Thusly, I will have the element of surprise. Also, I can transform. Each transformation is a lot more powerful than the last. And when I finally choose to become Jadeite…" Shade nodded to her, sharing in her feelings of complete confidence. She could take him. Jadeite smiled at him and then said, "Well, I'd better go and get started on the preliminaries." She then paused for a moment. "You guys can join in the fight after Cell ditches the rules out of desperation. Man, do I ever have an entrance planned for you!" She sent her plans directly into Shade's mind.  
  
She turned and jogged down the side of the plateau, changing into her human form as she ran. The hybrid with green armor and black wings shifted into a short, thin girl with long brown hair and deep blue eyes. Laura wore a loose white tank top and brown denim shorts. Her long hair was done up in a single thick braid and her glasses sparkled in the sunlight. Leather sandals kicked up dust as she ran. She loped into the crowd and asked, "Which of you goons is currently the last in line to face off against Cell?" They pointed to a tall man with big bushy hair. Without another word, she charged at him and attacked. Using a mere fraction of her true powers, she beat him down in just minutes. Other challengers came quickly, and she took them all with ease. Soon she was the first in line and it was time to begin. Slipping into the old deceptive ways of her past, she put on her 'terrified girl' act, allowing herself to shiver and prepared to stutter. She had always been a superb actress. She would have thrown her physical retardation into the mix, but she had to make it believable that she had beaten the others. Now all she had to do was wait. When Cell called for the first challenger to come, she would put on her greatest act ever.  
  
Cell smirked toward the waiting crowd and said, "Which of you pathetic fools will be the first to fall beneath my irresistible power?" Laura stepped forward and stammered in a squeaky little voice, "If-if you p-please, s-s-sir…I a-am." He just laughed at her for a moment, then said to the crowd seriously, "My first opponent is to be a mere child?" When he turned away from her, Laura put the palms of her hands to her face and made a colossal fart noise. Then she pointed at Cell, laughed at the top of her lungs and yelled out as loud as she could, "Whoa! Sounds like somebody had beans for dinner last night!" Her brazen attitude startled Cell into momentary immobility. She used that moment and continued, "It stinks back here! Why don't you do us all a favor and lay off the burritos?" That got the whole crowd roaring with laughter at Cell. That was more than what was necessary to get him riled up. His temper fairly exploded and he was ready to kill her. Had Laura been fully human, she would have been in very grave danger at that point.   
  
When Cell whipped around to face her, it was plain to see that he was furious beyond all words. Laura put on a big stupid grin and waved at him in an idiotic fashion. He snarled at her, "You just signed your death warrant with that stunt, you impudent little brat!" She suddenly sneered at him and replied in a mocking tone, "Shut up, ego boy! You suck!" His anger went right through the roof when she said that to him. He charged at her, intending to kill her. She didn't move as he came at her and her grin never left her face. Just as he prepared to deal out the first hit, she rapidly hopped aside with a high, chirping giggle. "You missed me!" She was leaning up against a nearby pillar, faking a bored little yawn and regarding him with a derisive sideways leer. He then tried to kick her. She jumped straight upward and then landed right on top of the pillar that she had been leaning up against. "Up here, you dimwit!" He tried to pull a combo on her, punching and following up with a swift kick. She ducked down low, then jumped straight up. "Under I go, now over!" He went all out on her at that point, giving her a swift barrage of devastating punches and kicks in rapid-fire succession. She simply twisted her lithe little body, hopped sideways repeatedly and dodged all of it with great panache. When he finally stopped and backed off to reevaluate his attack strategy against her, she did a short little tap-dance routine. Then she sang The Chicken Song at the top of her lungs and also danced to it. Cell gaped at her in pure shock as she began to jump up and down while screaming incoherently, then began to run in circles while screaming 'Rubber Ducky' as loud as she could. She followed that by slowly waving her hand back and forth in front of her face while singing 'I'm A Little Teapot' in a robotic monotone. Lastly she stood on her head while screaming like a constipated chicken trying to lay a brick. He was really losing his temper with the fact that, despite the fact that she seemed to be totally insane, he couldn't hit her even once. Just then, he fired a huge blast of energy at her, deciding to just be rid of her. She gulped as it came at her. "Uh oh." It hit her with a giant explosion. Believing her to be dead, Cell turned away from where she had just stood and laughed, "Now that she's gone, who's up next?" His assumption soon proved to be quite wrong.  
  
Behind him, the smoke slowly died away, revealing Laura, who was quite unharmed. Her clothes were mildly charred and soot streaked her pretty face. She looked to be rather irate, but she still wore her cocky little grin. She tensed up her small body and prepared to pull off the grand illusion of transforming into a Super Saiyan. Tilting her head back, taking a deep breath and opening her mouth, she began to power up. She sang rather than yelled, emitting a single crystal-clear low note. A bright nimbus of pale golden light began to dance around her lithe little body. As her power grew greater, the notes she sang grew higher and higher in pitch. Her open lips twisted in a smile as she shone at the heart of a second sun and sang at a pitch that could shatter glass with ease. Cell cringed at the sound, the pitch at which she was singing causing him incredible pain. He stared at her, an expression of pained shock on his face. Thick tendrils of dust curled around her and obscured her from his sight as she sang at a pitch that could easily deafen anyone. Then she stopped singing. The dust cloud that had enshrouded her faded away, revealing…an empty space. Recovering quickly, Cell stared at where Laura had been. Eventually, he growled, "Where is that little brat?" A voice cried from up high above him, "Up here!"  
  
Cell looked up and saw the radiant blond-haired green-eyed maiden hovering above him. She sat in the air with her legs crossed and her chin resting on her hand. Remembering her earlier wild behavior, he mused out loud, "An insane Super Saiyan. Hmmm… Now there's something I've never seen before." Cocking her head, she looked at him and gave a half grin, looking at him with the very same expression he had looked upon others with. He heard echoes of words he had spoken earlier as she stated, "You will be the first to fall before my irresistible power." Then she laughed evilly and sneered at him. She asked him, the tones and inflections of her own voice mirroring his, "Do you know who I am?"   
He just stared up at her. Taking his stunned silence as an answer in and of itself, she said, "Very well. I'll tell you exactly who I am. I am a biological weapon. I have no name, but if you feel you must call me something, you may call me The Ultimate. I was created for the specific purpose of destroying you, and that I shall do. There is absolutely nothing you can do which I cannot do better. Feel privileged, pathetic little fool, for you now face the greatest fighter that ever was, is and ever will be! I am utterly invincible! No one is stronger than I am!" She laughed at him, then said, "You are nothing to me, you puny little insect, and that is all you ever will be, in my opinion. To me you are weak." She certainly knew how to get him started, since that last statement made his blood boil.   
  
Snarling threats and curses at her, he took to the air and lunged for her. She dodged everything he threw at her, smiling all the while. After just letting him attempt to hit her for a few minutes, she got tired of toying with him and savagely backhanded him to the ground. He fell over a hundred feet straight down and landed face down in his ring. Laura quietly drifted down to land across the ring from him. He got to hands and knees and tried to stand up, but he gave a sudden dizzy lurch and dropped back down to the ground. Breathing heavily, he tried to summon up his full power. He then looked up at her, an expression of pure hatred on his face. She was standing tall and proud, her arms crossed over her chest, smirking down at him. In short, she was acting exactly as he would have if he had beaten her. She laughed in his face and then said, "So here you are, bowing down before your better." The cold, smug expression on her face turned serious and she hissed, "Do you surrender to me? Do you admit that I have beaten you?" Recovering just enough to speak, Cell growled up at her, "Never! I'll never surrender to you!" Her smirk just grew even larger as she said to no one in particular, "Haven't had enough of a beating yet, huh? Don't you see? It's over! I've defeated you, you idiot!" Turning away from him and beginning to walk off, making a great show of powering down as she did so, she huffed over her shoulder at him, "Weakling." That was it, the very last straw. Cell decided that he'd had quite enough of this mysterious new adversary and forced himself to stand up. He fairly roared at her, "You dare call me a weakling?" Then he lunged at her with all his remaining strength. She just stopped and held very still, waiting until he was practically right on top of her, and then she simply…disappeared. Confused, Cell stopped and just stood there, looking from side to side. The crowd roared with laughter, as Laura appeared right behind him, pulled her foot backward and then gave Cell a hard, sharp kick directly in the rear. He yelped, a cry that sounded like someone had just stepped on a puppy's tail, as he did an involuntary midair flip and landed right on his face outside the ring. Laura looked at this and, as the crowd roared with laughter, she laughed at him too.   
  
She abruptly stopped laughing as his aura flared a dark blood red and he shot back up to his feet with a wordless scream of incensed rage. The sight of him rising up to challenge her once again froze her in place for a single short moment. A single moment was all that Cell really needed to do his thing. He formed a huge energy blast in his hands and sent it at her with a savage cry of purest anger. It hit her dead on, making a colossal explosion. He looked at his handiwork and nodded once in pure satisfaction, then he turned around to face the other challengers and said in a mildly exasperated voice, "Now that the brat is gone again, who of you will be the next one to challenge my power?" He once again assumed that she was dead and gone, and once again he would soon be proved wrong.   
The smoke died away to reveal a very angry Mewthree. She called out in a mocking little singsong voice, "Oh, Cell…" He quickly turned around and saw the white feline creature coming straight at him with the speed of a fighter jet set firmly on overdrive. She yelled at him at the top of her lungs as she attacked him, "That was my best shirt, you hideous, mutated nincompoop!" She coiled her long, strong tail around his chest; tightly binding both of his arms by his sides, then spread her great white wings and took off straight up into the air. High above the ground, she rapidly spun in place, swinging Cell in a wide circle as he screamed, then promptly folded her wings and dove toward the ground, let Cell go, and finally spread her wings and pulled up at the very last second. He hit the ring with the force of a very large freight train going full speed and then hitting a brick wall.   
  
The ring was totally demolished by the force of the impact. Mewthree hovered in place, watching the dust kicked up by the impact. Then she heard a familiar voice resonate in her mind. From somewhere far away, Shade was sending her a warning. (Laura, look out! Cell's still in the fight! And what's more-he's angry!) Quickly casting her psychic awareness outward, she sensed Cell's fury building to high levels from deep within the pile of pulverized rubble that had once been his ring. From the very heart of the great dust cloud, Cell screamed up at her, "Final Flash!" The huge ball of energy tore straight through where she hovered. When it dissipated, she was gone from the area entirely. There was no sign of her ever having been there. Cell slowly dusted himself off and then grumbled angrily, "Good riddance, you weird floating talking cat thing." He sneered at where she had been and then said in a huff, "Okay, now that she's out of the way yet again… Now who's going to be up against me next?" All of the other challengers just stared at each other, silently pleading for someone else to go up against Cell next.  
(NOT SO FAST!)  
The voice thundered from out of nowhere. The sheer power of it exploded in Cell's mind. He doubled over, clutched at his throbbing head and screamed in tortured agony. (I'm not through with you yet, Cell! Death from above!) He then looked upward and gasped at the terrifying sight of the sharp-clawed gray-furred bat-winged red-eyed monstrosity diving right at him from high above. Ultra Mewthree came down at him with her back toward the sun, making her almost totally invisible until she was almost right on top of him. She then performed a high-speed, full-body tackle on him with all of her long, lethal talons fully extended before her, gashing him deeply in multiple places and sending him to the ground, having been knocked to the ground with just one solid hit. She stayed right there on top of him, her feet firmly planted on his wrists to pin down both of his arms, her long spiked tail wrapped loosely around his legs and her claws held firmly at his throat. He looked into her evil red eyes, an expression of stark terror written all over his face. Then he flinched and gave a low cry of pure horror as she bared her sharp fangs, lowered her head and nipped at his throat just enough to draw a little bit of blood. She raised her head again, licked the blood from her lips, and then said softly, (This victory goes to me, Cell.) Blind anger at the thought of losing to her suddenly overwhelmed his fear of her. He abruptly convulsed in her grasp, his internal energy exploding all around him as he fought to break free of her grip. He screamed in a rough voice, "Get away from me!" Ultra Mewthree was thrown high into the air. Cell smirked at her and said, "For fighters of our caliber, there's no point in having rules, is there? From now on, we fight to the death." Ultra Mewthree just smirked right back at him and said fearlessly, (Yo, you big imbecile… The one-on-one rule is also one of the many rules that you have just tossed out the window. So…) She sent a psychic cue to Shade and four of her other friends.   
  
Suddenly, the sky went dark. Five feline creatures hovered there, posing dynamically. They were, in order of appearance: Mewtwo, Snowfall, Storm, Shade and King Cold. A voice came from out of nowhere, saying, "Here we-here we-here we go!" Then the weird voice began to rap out a crazy tune. A moment later, they began to boogie, dancing to music that had no definable source. Ultra Mewthree smirked over at Cell. Cell was just plain dumbfounded at the sight of them. He hadn't expected this to happen. He hadn't expected there to be more creatures like the odd challenger he now faced off against. There were five newcomers and they were all as strange as the first one he had seen. Now he was outnumbered. And if they were all as strong as the first, then he was in big trouble. For the first time ever, Cell began to seriously doubt that he could win the fight against them. A new feeling took hold of his heart and Cell quietly began to panic.  
  
"So we're finally here  
Performing for you  
If you know the words  
You can join in too  
Put your hands together  
If you want to clap  
As we take you through  
This funky rap!  
Huh!  
  
P.C!  
Power-Cat!  
P.C!  
Power-Cat is here!  
  
He's the leader of the bunch  
You know him well  
He's finally back  
To kick some tail  
His psionic gun  
Can fire in spurts  
If he shoots ya  
It's gonna hurt  
He's bigger, faster and stronger too  
He's the first member of the P.C crew!  
Huh!  
  
P.C!  
Power-Cat!  
P.C!  
Power-Cat is here!  
  
This gal's got style  
So listen up, dudes  
She can change her size  
To suit her mood  
She's quick and nimble  
When she needs to be  
She can float through the air  
With the greatest of ease  
She's really hip; she's where it's at  
With a skip and a hop, she's one cool cat!  
Huh!  
  
P.C!  
Power-Cat!  
P.C!  
Power-Cat is here!  
  
He's back again  
And about time too  
And this time  
He's in the mood  
He can fly real high  
And squash things flat  
With his Gravity Strike  
He's one cool cat!  
He'll make you smile   
When he plays his tune  
But bad guys beware  
'Cuz he's after you!  
Huh!  
  
He has no style  
He has no grace  
This cat has a funny face  
He can vanish  
When he needs to  
And play with weather  
Hey, man, it's true!  
He floats himself  
Just like a balloon  
This crazy cat just digs this tune!  
Huh!  
  
P.C!  
Power-Cat!  
P.C!  
Power-Cat is here!  
  
And finally  
He's here for you  
It's the last member  
Of the P.C crew  
This dude's so strong it isn't funny  
He can make a bad guy cry out for Mummy  
Can levitate a boulder  
With relative ease  
Makes throwing rocks  
Seem such a breeze  
He may be slow  
He can't jump high  
But this cat's   
One heck of a guy!  
Come on, man! Show us what you got!  
  
Psychic, fantastic, premonition tells,  
Floating, flashing, flying and element spells!  
Ah yeah!  
Psychic, fantastic, premonition tells,  
Floating, flashing, flying and element spells!"  
  
Cell's eyes had gotten really big. Their power levels were enormous; more than double his own! "I'll handle them later," he growled uncaringly as he slowly turned to face Ultra Mewthree, "But first I'll deal with you!" He lunged at her. The battle raged across the sky, neither one gaining any advantage over the other. Wanting to get the fight over with, Ultra Mewthree sneered at Cell, (You think you were Doctor Gero's final creation, don't you? You always believed Android 21 to be the last. Well, prepare to meet Android 22! And Android 22 is…) There was a bright, blinding flash of blinding white light and suddenly Jadeite hovered there. Her deep green armor darkened to become a dark ashen gray hue "…Me." That transformation completely stunned Cell. There was another one like him? And her power level was amazing! It completely dwarfed his own! She sneered at him and said coldly, "I am Jade Falcon, Android 22, queen of all destruction, the master of the universe. Many different people have called me many different things over the time that I have been alive and wreaking havoc on the world at large: black lady, daughter of darkness, child of shadow, evil queen, death goddess… But you, Cell…" Her face twisted in a bloodthirsty snarl of pure hatred. "…You can just call me your killer!"   
With that, she lunged at him, screaming at him wordlessly and insanely. He just barely managed to block her first strike, but he soon found that she was far superior to him in every possible way. She moved so fast that he couldn't even see her. She hit so hard that he thought he was going to die for sure. He couldn't even catch up to her, much less get close enough to hit her. Desperation mixed with anger and stark terror as he tried in vain to move faster. She's so fast! I can't even see her! A short instant later, he was picking himself up out of the large pile of dirt that he'd just been socked into. She hits like a ton of bricks, too. Wet warmth slid somewhere deep down in the very back of his throat, wrapping warm, wet, slippery tendrils around deep inside his heaving lungs, momentarily threatening to drown him. A sudden surge of panic exploded within him and he promptly doubled over, coughing and gagging with a frantic intensity. A great plume of purplish blood spewed from his open mouth, splattering all over the ground before him. What's happening to me? He limply dropped down to land on his knees, frantically gasping for air and choking on his own blood. Feels like I'm dying… His hands were at his throat as if he were trying to pry away some strange invisible force that was bent on strangling him to death. An expression of pain and suffering crossed with confusion and fear settled in on his face as he fought in vain against the limitations thrust upon him by his own body. So…tired… Try as he might, the terrible weakness that he felt growing somewhere deep within his body just wouldn't go away. Have to…rest… As his swirling thoughts began to grow dimmer and more distant, the idea of just calling it quits and resting his weary body began to seem more and more attractive to him. Just for…a moment… He was barely even aware of it as he fell completely, limply dropping down to the ground. The pulverized dirt felt very soft and cool against his face. He could hear birds singing a soft lullaby to him from somewhere far away. Face Jade Falcon…after that… His harsh, labored breathing began to slow down and even out as his body gradually relaxed. The expression on his face grew calm, even tranquil. Right now…I'll rest for a few minutes… The darkness began to close in around him, the world was growing dim and distant, but he welcomed it. Yes… Things were slipping away from him, but he didn't really mind that fact. Rest… He almost smiled as everything fell away into a soft, warm darkness.   
  
Jade Falcon could feel Cell's thoughts fading away into darkness. She turned to Mewtwo, then smirked and said; "He's losing consciousness. You want that I should leave him be, or should I give him what he would have given me if I had lost to him?" Mewtwo replied, (The choice is yours alone to make. Do with your prey as you will, Jade Falcon.) She then smiled evilly and said, "I'm not through with him just yet. I'll show him new levels of pain and suffering before I finish him off once and for all. Tell my love to avert his eyes from this. Get him to do it quickly. I can feel a certain murky violence coming on." She seemed pleased with that, as if her savage, violent urges were nothing new to her.  
  
Mewtwo turned and sent the command to the hybrid that remained atop the plateau. Then he turned back to face Jade Falcon and nodded. (He's not watching you anymore, Jade Falcon. You may begin when ready.) She laughed out loud at that news. The sound was disturbing, ominous and all-around frightening. It was plain to all that watched her and heard her that she was slipping back into the sadistic ways of the original Jade Falcon. Mewtwo felt a moment's shock at the sight of his former beloved preparing to do evil. He turned away as well, not wanting to see the severe violence that would surely follow.   
Wasting no more time on matters that she considered nothing more than mere trivialities Jade Falcon abruptly stepped forward, reached down with one hand, grabbed Cell by the throat and roughly hauled him up to her eye level. He just hung there limply, looking like he was either soundly asleep or in a coma. She suddenly slapped him hard across the face once, then again and again with increasing strength. Her face twisted in a fierce snarl as she suddenly, violently forced her way into his sleeping mind. If he wouldn't wake up naturally, then she would force him to wake up if such actions became necessary. What she had just done shocked her somewhere deep down inside of her raging soul. Invading someone's mind without first getting permission was the deepest, most basic violation she could have possibly performed. But she didn't really care about such things anymore.  
  
As a young child, she'd always wondered what a creature like Cell would dream about. Now, as she stood on the sidelines of a colossal battlefield, she finally knew the answer. Armies moved all around her as large numbers of tanks rolled by and many thousands of warplanes soared by overhead. Groups of soldiers carrying large guns like bazookas and rocket launchers ran from one side of the scene to the other. A rapid-fire series of large explosions and the sounds of a massive scuffle drew her attention in the direction that the soldiers were all heading in. She turned and looked at the source of the sounds. What she saw elicited a gasp of pure shock from her. Amid vast swarms of exploding artillery shells, Cell was going up against Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Trunks and even Vegeta all at once. Missiles launched from a seemingly infinite number of warplanes hit Cell every few seconds, but they had absolutely no effect on him. The five fighters were going at him all at the same time in a concerted effort that combined their strength, but they still couldn't even manage to touch him. Cell was invincible, unbeatable, a God among mere mortals. She took a moment to marvel at the size of his ego. Then she got right down to business. Using her psychic powers, she began to subtly alter elements in Cell's triumphant dream.  
  
A hard punch directly in the face from Piccolo sent him sprawling face down on the ground. Stunned, he stayed there for a few seconds. After a few seconds, he moaned softly and slowly got onto hands and knees. An odd whistling sound came from somewhere high above. Looking upward, Cell saw that Vegeta was coming down at him feet first. The Saiyan's steel-tipped boots stomped down on his back, right between his glossy black wings, and he screamed in extreme pain. He heard a sickening wet crack as, below where he'd been hit, a searing heat filled his whole body. Coughing weakly, Cell tried to move, but found that he couldn't. His legs refused to respond and he could feel nothing from them. His milk-white face twisted in strain as he tried and failed to force himself to move. He gasped feebly, "What is this? What's happening to me?" Vegeta snarled, "Your spinal column was shattered by my last attack. You'll be paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of your life…if, by some bizarre miracle, I decide to let you live." "No," Cell mewled in a soft voice, "No…" Due to the pain his newly crippled body was in, but also due to the fact that he had gotten a massive concussion in the fall, the hybrid did the one thing he had never done before in his entire life. He began to cry. He sobbed, "I don't want to be this way…" Vegeta smirked at the sight and said mockingly, "Don't worry, you pathetic monstrosity. I'll help you." Cell gazed up at him, a confused, devastated look on his face. Creating an enormous energy ball, Vegeta then clarified, "Help you into your next life, that is!" Laughing madly, he gave Cell a lethal blast.  
Jade Falcon returned to reality just in time to see Cell convulse in her grip with a cry of startled fear. He opened his eyes and looked at her, confused and terrified. She smirked and said; "Now, Cell, we are going to play some more." Then she punched him straight in the face. She dragged him up into the air and then began to beat on him with a rapid flurry of devastating punches and kicks. Beyond all the pain and suffering that Cell was feeling, his rage was beginning to build. As his rage grew, so did his power. She laughed in his face as she dealt him another agonizing kick directly in the side and then sent him right back down to the ground. He landed in a huge cloud of dust. Jade Falcon smiled at the huge crater that Cell had just made. Crossing her arms, she cocked her head and smirked at the thought of having defeated Cell. She huffed softly, "And I thought that he'd actually be a challenge to me. There's no accounting for weaklings in life, though."  



	2. Cell Is Angry! Kiss The Hybrid Goodbye! ...

A wordless, feral cry of pure rage resonated across the flat plain that Cell had chosen as the site for his tournament. Jade Falcon watched in shock as Cell leapt straight up out of the crater with an enraged scream. He then came straight at her with a savage cry and began to beat on her in a major way. She soon found to her horror that she couldn't even touch him now. He had reached a whole new level of strength and power, surpassing hers. As he beat her across the sky, Shade used his psychic powers to shout to his sister, (Jade Falcon! Switch into Jadeite and use the Staff of Ra!) Her armor quickly changed from dark gray to deep green, as she became Jadeite. She then reached up toward the sun and concentrated, focusing her energies on one simple task. Cell paused, watching in awe, as a bright flash of orange fire became a coppery-hued scepter. The ruby set in it glittered with an unnatural level of brightness, as if it had its own internal light source.   
  
Holding the scepter high, Jadeite cried out, "Tremble, evildoer! Behold the Staff of Ra!" She spun in a circle, twirling the Staff of Ra. Flames trailed behind it as it spun, creating a wide flaming ring around her. The ruby began to glow far brighter than the sun. When Jadeite faced Cell again, her coral eyes burned with a steely resolve. Her milk-white face twisted in a grim frown as she slowly pointed the ruby part of the scepter at Cell's chest. She then drew in a deep breath to give a war cry. She thought to herself, What shall I use against him first? Then she knew what to do next. She raised the scepter high and called out, "Spear Frost! Release and dispel!" A pale sky blue glow came from within the ruby. Huge razor-sharp icicles materialized all around her and shot toward Cell in a massive barrage. He gave a yelp and dodged as fast as he could. He was bruised and a bit cut up when the barrage ceased. Then he looked up at her with an expression of purest hatred.   
  
Jadeite smiled at this and said, "Okay, so I see ice isn't going to work on you. Here's the other side of the elemental spectrum, and it's coming just for you, Cell. Final Burst! Release and dispel!" A fierce reddish-orange glow came from within the ruby. A huge flaming blast erupted from the very tip of her scepter. Having nowhere to run or hide, Cell gave a short little squeal of fear and then curled up into a ball, doing his level best to shield himself. When she called back the withering fire, a charred, shivering form was visible. As she watched with an evil smirk, Cell slowly uncurled, then looked his injuries over. He stared at his badly burned body with a look of pure shock and blatant dismay. He hadn't expected to feel such pain, or to be injured so badly. The pain was incredible. His expression changed to fierce anger and pure hatred as he then looked over at Jadeite.   
She shivered ever so slightly, an expression of pure shock settling in on her pretty face. She had expected that last attack to kill him for sure. Jadeite turned to face Shade where he watched from the top of the plateau and sent to him, (That was my strongest attack! He shook it off like it was nothing at all! What do I do now?) Then her eyes darkened. (I have an idea…) Shade replied, (Do it, then!) She shook her head slightly, an expression of pure sorrow settling on her milk-white face. (I…can't do it. My power isn't enough. Don't you remember? The Staff of Ra was born from the union of two powers. One person alone cannot wield its true power. Only its creators, working together, can tap its full potential. I just wish…someone could help me out…) She pushed the despairing thought from her mind, her expression of sorrow changing to one of grim determination. (There is something I can do. I would only have one chance to try it…and if I failed…) Shade had a bad feeling about it. He said, (Jadeite, what's your plan?) She turned around to face him fully and then smiled at him sadly. She sent to him urgently, (Get away from me quickly if you want to live to see tomorrow. I'm going to self-destruct and take him with me. Shade… Jim… I love you. Goodbye.) Too shocked by far to notice that he was screaming the next words at the very top of his lungs as well as broadcasting his every word to everyone within a full mile of his current position, Shade screamed out in pure terror, "No! Jadeite, you can't! We can find a way around the scepter's limitations! If you need more power, I'll give it in place of the one that helped you to create the Staff of Ra! Don't do it, Jadeite! Please don't do it! For the love of heaven, don't self-destruct!" Behind him, a third person heard his words and knew that the time had come to act.  
  
Sighing sadly, Jadeite shut his words out of her mind, turning to face Cell. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, feeling the sun on her milk-white face for the final time as she prepared to die. Tears glittered on her cheeks. She gathered all her energy together in the very center of her body. Opening her eyes, she said in a low voice, "This is the end, Cell…for the both of us. I'll take you with me!" Moving as if she were caught in a dream, she slowly raised the Staff of Ra over her head. It began to burn brighter than it ever had before, casting a harsh red halo around Jadeite. Her body began to burn red as well. Her face twisted in an expression of extreme pain as she said her final prayers. She slowly lowered the Staff of Ra, pointing the blazing ruby directly toward Cell's chest. He was frozen with stark terror. He had expected a lot of things from his enemy, but he hadn't expected her to sacrifice herself to stop him. Opening her eyes for what she was certain would be the last time, she looked over at the frightened Cell and said to him in a growl, "In the name of the Earth and of its people, I deliver the blazing bolt of universal justice. May God have mercy on us all." She bowed her head low and closed her eyes once again, preparing to release her energy and self-destruct. As the chosen time of her death drew ever nearer, she despairingly thought of her true love, and then she dared one last psychic transmission to him as an apology for what she was going to do next. (Goodbye…)  
  
A flood of frantic negation washed across her opened mind like a tidal wave made of the most potent acid. She suddenly felt a familiar presence right at her back. Warm hands covered her own hands, grasping the blazing Staff of Ra even as she did so. An unknown person gently laid their chin on her shoulder. A familiar voice said in a mischievous tone, "Did you miss me?" Startled, she opened her eyes and looked into the smiling face of her love, Cell. The energy she had gathered in preparation for her self-destruction dissipated. Sensing his uncertainty at having to use the Staff of Ra in battle for the very first time ever, she said urgently, giving him advice, "Cell! Believe in yourself! Pray! Bring it out! Bring out all of your power and send it at that impostor!" He did as she advised him to do. Two minds, hearts and souls momentarily merged into one being as two pairs of eyes glared at the hated enemy and two voices cried out, "Spark Net! Release and dispel!"   
  
The energy seared the air and, in an instant, the enemy Cell was gone from sight. In his place, a huge crater gave off a thick miasma of noxious black smoke. Jadeite closed her eyes and around felt around for his power level. He had indeed been killed; erased from existence as if he had never been. Relaxing, the two hybrids drifted down out of the sky to land beside what little remained of the arena where the tournament had originally been meant to occur. Jadeite spun the Staff of Ra on her fingertips and then held it up high, whereupon it disappeared in a bright flash of reddish-orange fire. Then, feeling a series of familiar presences, she turned around and saw that the crew stood there. They were not the crew she knew, but the crew of the universe she and her friends had crossed over into. They were staring at her in a state of total shock, and it took her a few minutes to realize that they were only seeing a second creature who was nearly identical to Cell, and not someone who meant to be their friend. She giggled. "Oh, I forgot," she said, "What form would you feel most comfortable talking to? Oh, I know!" There was a flash of light and Laura stood there. She smiled and stepped up just a little bit closer to the lot of them.   
  
Piccolo practically jumped on top of her when she changed into her most unthreatening form. He snarled at her gruffly, "Wait a minute! Who are you? What are you? Did that madman create you too?" She just gently smiled up at him and then said, "Since you're so hot and bothered about learning my secrets, I guess I'll spill the beans for you. My name is Laura when I'm in this form, but my real name is Jadeite. I am a biological weapon by nature. My friends and I are from the future of a parallel universe. A spatial anomaly threw us from our universe and into yours. We're the good guys. Cell was born as a good guy, engineered for protection rather than destruction. All of us are the same." Trunks stepped up and then cut in, "Wait a minute… You said you and your friends. You mean there are more of your kind?" Jadeite smiled, nodded vehemently and replied in a merry little chirp, "Tons more! Thousands!" She then turned, pointed to the faraway plateau and said; "Do you see that big plateau over there? That's where they all are."   
  
Momentarily closing her bright blue eyes, she sent out a silent psychic summons to her friends. Scant seconds later, untold thousands of utterly alien forms darkened the sky. Then the crew came face to face with their parallel universe selves. Two Piccolos glared at each other. Vegeta and his double circled around each other warily, ready to fight at a moment's notice. Goku regarded himself with a blatantly confused look. Gohan played a game of 'Mirror, Mirror' with his double. Krillin solemnly regarded himself for a long moment, then promptly started giggling. Tien and his double both looked shocked to see themselves. Yamcha and his double were chatting and shooting the breeze as if they were old friends; which, in a way, they were. Both versions of Trunks looked at each other and then asked the others in a frank voice, "Does my hair really look that dumb?" Meanwhile, 17 and 18 watched the tableau as it unfolded before them, and then they both started laughing at the top of their lungs at the sight of all the insane buffoonery going on.   
A strangled cry of pure pain made everyone freeze right on the spot. Gohan cried out, "Oh my goodness! Look at Cell!" Laura turned around and gaped in shocked horror as Cell doubled over and dropped into a low crouch, his face twisted in supreme agony. As everyone watched, his body began to twist and distort as bone and muscle were reshaped. A bright light came from deep within his body, forcing everyone to look away or go blind. A few minutes later, when everyone could see things again, they all saw that Cell's form had changed drastically. He had just become a big green and black bug with a dark orange beak and a long, snaky, needle-tipped tail. He had regressed in form and power!  
  
Laura, Shade and the crew of both universes knew what had happened. He had regressed to his energy-absorbing form. Looking up at Laura, who looked as though she'd seen a ghost, he said, "Jadeite?" His voice was a low, raspy growl. He gave a wordless yelp as he looked down at himself. "No," he whispered. Then, realizing what had just happened to him; he tilted his head back and screamed at the heavens, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" After knowing true power, he had regressed to a form that was very weak…and ugly.  
  
Laura used her psychic power to enter his mind and subtly convince him that, given time, he would return to his final form. As he stood up, she stepped closer and asked, "Cell, are you all right?" He looked over at her and replied in a hesitant voice, "I'll be fine, I guess. But what do I do now? I feel so…awkward…" She just smiled at him and said, "Tell you what. So you don't feel so out of place, I'll regress too." She then closed her eyes and, as everyone watched, her body began to change. She grew a little bit shorter and a little bit pudgier. Her long, beautiful hair became a greasy, unruly mop. Scars covered her formerly pretty face and the dark purplish-blue bruises on her cheeks made her body look like it was hollow and fragile. The beautiful woman had become an utterly unattractive teenage girl. Cell almost smiled at the sight of that. She was just like him, now. She too had just become something that was far less than what she was truly meant to become.   
  
Cell said, "That's fine, but… In this form, I'll need to…well, you know…" He blushed black and, at a loss for words, just wagged his needle-tipped tail. Laura mentally smacked herself. He needs energy in order to survive, she thought. But there's also still the matter of changing him back. She cursed quietly, and then said in a louder voice, "Of course! What could be simpler?" She stepped forward, grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled it down to expose the smooth white flesh of her breastbone. "Hey. Here you go," she said in a calm, conversational tone, forcing a calm smile onto her face, "Energy." Instinctual urges and a need burning deep within him made him arch his tail forward and prepare to impale her with its needle tip. Then he gained control over his wildly churning instincts.   
  
He looked over at her, at the soft, pale flesh that she had just bared to him, and his eyes went wide at the sight. He gasped in shocked terror, "You…you want me…to…" Her smile faded and she looked at him seriously. "Darn straight I do," she said in a harsh voice, "You need, so I give. Now make with the tail." His tail quivered slightly as he slowly stepped backward, away from her. "No," he whispered. His raspy voice quavered with frightened uncertainty as he fought against the terrible need he felt inside. He turned away and cried, "No! I won't! I refuse to do it! If I do…it'll kill you! Absorbing is killing, and I will never kill again!" She objected urgently, "But if you don't do that, you'll die!" He just screamed at her, "Then let me die!" He then turned and ran away as fast as he could. Then he leapt to the air and streaked out of sight. Laura turned to face her friends with a disappointed look and said, "Well, that went as well as could be expected. Now I have to go find him. There's no telling what he'll do. You guys hold the fort here while I go look for Cell. I'll be back just as soon as I find him, okay? Goodbye now!" She leapt to the air and flew away, astonishing the crew of the other dimension with her speed and strength. In mere seconds she was out of all sight, somewhere that lay beyond the clouds.  
  
Cell sat on a flat rock by a smallish stream. A tall oak tree shaded him from the sunlight. Sweet-scented grasses rustled softly in a gentle breeze. He looked at his reflection in the rushing water. His hideous face… He recoiled at the sight, obliterating the hated image by tossing a small stone into the water. Then he glared at his tail. He really hated his tail, especially the needle tip. How many people have met their deaths via that needle? He would much prefer dying to having to kill innocent people in order to survive. But how could he make sure that pure instinct wouldn't take over and make him do it? Looking around, he spotted a large, heavy stone that was just about as big as his head. Having a sudden flash of pure inspiration, he grabbed the rock in both hands and then lifted it high over his head. He then curled his long tail around himself, positioning the hated needle tip right in front of him. This needle is how I used to absorb and kill people, he thought in a wild, fitful paroxysm of complete self-disgust. Without this needle, I just can't do it.   
  
Closing his eyes so that he wouldn't have to look at what he was going to do to himself, he brought the rock down with all his strength. His entire tail erupted in a blast of pure pain and he just barely managed to stifle the urge to scream. Instead of stopping, he used the awful pain to drive himself into a mad frenzy and pounded the needle flat. After a few long minutes, he threw the rock away from him and into the rushing water, a spasmodic movement impelled by pain, and curled up into a ball. When the pain died down to a bearable level, he sat back up and looked at his handiwork. The needle tip was barely recognizable as having been such because it was mutilated so badly. There'll be no more absorbing for me. The tip was a large mass of traumatized flesh and semi-metallic shards, oozing thick purplish blood. Nothing can ever heal that. Cell was utterly pleased at the sight of what he had done to himself, despite the fact that he was now in a world of hurt. Not even Jadeite can fix the needle to working order. But she would probably try to heal him anyway. So he had to hide from her until he either died or miraculously found a way to return to his final form. Rising to his feet, he leapt to the air and flew away as fast as he could manage to go. He found a deep forest in which he could find shelter and hide. There he would wait for what would come to him, be it death or a return to his final form.  
  
Laura had changed to Jadeite because she was stronger in that form and could fly faster. In time, she found the rock where Cell had rested. Looking at the shards and the blood, she knew what he had done. He's destroyed his tail! He…he's going to die! Succumbing to sheer terror, she leapt to the air and began to soar in a wide circle, using her psychic voice to send a call out across the land, (Cell! Where are you? Cell, please answer me!) There was no response to her calls. He wanted to die alone. But she refused to give up on him so easily. I've never tried this before… Reaching toward the heavens, she called forth the Staff of Ra. She had an idea, but she didn't know whether it would work or not. But it's worth a try. She lowered it to her side, trying to think of what she would have to do next if she wanted to find Cell in time to help him. Then she knew exactly what to do. Staff of Ra… She slowly raised the ruby to her serene face and gently touched its flat, cool side surface to her brow. Help me find him… She closed her eyes and concentrated on her memories of how Cell looked in his regressed state. Give me sight beyond sight… Sending her awareness out in all directions, her ability enhanced by the Staff of Ra, she felt for Cell's energy level. Her awareness spread across the land in great waves, covering miles of ground in seconds. Then she sensed him. Yes! She spun the Staff of Ra and held it high, sending it back to the ethereal realm she had called it forth from. Then she put her hand to her brow and used Instant Transmission to take her to where Cell was hiding out.   
  
Cell had used moss to bandage up his tail. Now he lay on a bed of soft grasses, waiting for either death or the ability to return to his final form. He heard the infamous soft rush of air and knew that someone had entered the immediate area via Instant Transmission. Opening his eyes, he saw Jadeite standing right there beside him. She gently tugged at the moss covering the shattered tip of his tail, slowly pulling it away from the broken tip. Then she reached out, her hand glowing with bright pale blue light, and touched his tail. He gave a violent twitch and hissed softly as healing energy flowed through his body. Jadeite smiled as the needle that tipped his tail mended. Seeing that his tail was fully restored, Cell gave her a look of pure dismay. Taking the end of his newly healed tail in an absurdly strong one-handed grip, latching on right below the needle tip itself, she changed to Laura. She smiled at him and said, "I love you, Cell. I'll always be with you."   
  
Then she drove the needle right into her side. He gasped in shock, horrified by what she was doing. She hid her pain behind a smile as she slowly began to run her hand along the length of his tail, gently rubbing from the tip downward. "No," he whispered, shuddering as he felt her soft touch begin to stimulate the musculature along his tail, causing it to involuntarily begin the process of absorption. He had tried his best to keep himself from absorbing her, but now she was making him do it. In all his life, he had never expected someone to actually want to be absorbed by him. Strain showed on her face as the first traces of desiccation began to make themselves clear. Cell leapt up to his feet and tried to run away, but she was still holding his tail, keeping the needle tip stuck deep in her body. He couldn't break free of her iron grip, try as he might. He had no time to think about it. Desperate to stop the absorption process, he did the only thing he could think of on such short notice. Energy gathered around his hand. Turning abruptly, he brought his blazing hand around and then cut off his tail. He cried out in pain and Laura cried out in shock.   
  
Cursing softly, she yanked the needle out of her body and threw the severed tail away, then healed herself and glared at him. He stood across the way from her, panting as he faced her with a pained yet determined look on his face. Behind him, the bloody stump of his newly severed tail twitched uncontrollably. "I told you," he said in a harsh voice, "I won't absorb anyone ever again." An angry expression settled on her pretty face. "Fine," she growled in a low voice, "You leave me no choice in the matter, Cell. I hoped that, in absorbing me, my mimicking powers would become yours. As Jadeite, my new self was born mimicking your final form, so that's my basic shape. It would have been your basic shape too, if you had gone along with my little plan and absorbed me like I asked you to. Once that was all over and done with, my innate healing power would have enabled me to naturally separate my power from yours, just as 17 did. But now, since you've cut your tail off, I guess I'll have to go with the less attractive option. Hold still, please." He obediently held still. She gave a slight smile, nodded in a satisfied manner and then said to him, "Thank you so much for doing what I said for you to do." He nodded and kept holding still. "All right," he stated flatly, "Whatever you're planning on doing to me in order to return me to my final form, please do it right now, before any more crazy stuff happens to us." She replied, "Fine. Just give me a second to get myself ready for it."  
  
She switched into the form of Jadeite and took a small step closer. Raising her hand high over her head, she summoned the Staff of Ra. Looking over at Cell, she said frankly, "Let's hope this works. Hang on to your behind. This may or may not hurt a bit. I'm not too sure." She raised the scepter high, angling the ruby toward where Cell waited for her to do her thing, and then called out in a harsh, commanding tone of voice, "Staff of Ra! Return your power to your creator!" A beam of what appeared to be highly concentrated sunlight shot out of the ruby to bathe Cell in its unearthly glow. As the glow touched him, his body inevitably began to respond to it…and change. This time the change was both quick and painless. The big green bug with a beak and the stump of what had once been a long needle-tipped tail became a tall green humanlike being with a handsome milk-white face, a high double crest and glossy black insect wings. Jadeite resisted the unmistakable impulse to break off the beam in favor of tackling Cell with a kamikaze hug. But she had to make it so that his final form would be his natural form from that moment on. As she finished up, the light slowly died away into nothingness. He then asked her, "Jadeite, what did you just do to me?" When he spoke he noticed that his voice had become a deep, smooth purr instead of a low, raspy growl. He looked himself over and noticed that he had at last returned to his final form. Raising his fists high above his head and punching the air in a triumphant manner, he cheered, "Yes! I'm finally back to normal!" Jadeite smiled at him, nodded to him slowly…and collapsed like a ton of large bricks.   
  
Cell gave a wordless cry of shock and dismay as he leapt forward to catch her in his arms. She lay there limp as he eased her to the ground and tried in vain to revive her. He noticed that she still held the Staff of Ra. The ruby's natural light was almost completely gone. All that was left was a weak glow that flickered to the rhythm of a heartbeat. A wild thought made Cell check Jadeite's pulse. Sure enough, the ruby was pulsing to the rhythm of her heart. He laid one hand on her shoulder and brought the other up to his brow. With a short rush of shimmering light, he used Instant Transmission and was gone.  
  
Soon Shade was helping Cell lay Jadeite on the ground. Shade checked her out to the best of his ability, then said, "She's in a coma…" Using his ability to sense energy; Shade also managed to figure out what had happened. He turned to Cell and said, "She projected her own energy through the Staff of Ra. Since you didn't have the proper energy to return to your final form, she gave you hers. Basically, right now she doesn't have enough energy to maintain a conscious state. But she'll recover, given enough time. We can wait." Cell quietly settled down by Jadeite's side, relieved to learn that she would recover in time. Shade asked, "Cell, are you happy now? Are you pleased with her sacrifice to you? She could have died!" Cell all but flinched as Shade poured out his anger upon the hybrid.  
Laura, in her human form, stood on a flat plateau overlooking a world of darkness. A familiar voice said, "So you're here, huh?" She turned and saw Cell standing behind her. His body looked slightly charred, as if he had been subjected to a withering flame. She knew that this was the Cell of the other dimension, the one she had killed. She asked, "What are you doing here?" He stomped his foot and growled, losing his temper, "You of all people should know what I'm doing here! You're the one who killed me!" Turning fully, she put her hands on her hips, sneered at him and then said sarcastically, "Well, if you're dead, what are you doing knocking around in my brain?" He sneered right back, then said to her in a gentle voice, "I want answers before oblivion." He sat down on a rock and just waited quietly. Laura walked to the side, sighed softly and commented, "That I can do. Ask me your questions and I will answer." Cell stood back up and walked up to her, towering over her in her human form. He looked her over and said, "What are you? Where did you come from? Why are you so powerful?" She replied, "I'm a hybrid like you, but from a parallel universe. And I'm psychic." Then he asked, "Why did I see…myself…beside you right before I died?" Smiling, she replied, "It's quite simple, really. That was your parallel universe self. In my universe, we two are mates and we have children as well. He never became what you are. He never killed." There were a few minutes of total silence between the two of them, as Cell contemplated his new non-living status and Laura tried to figure out where the heck she was. Then Laura asked Cell, "Doctor Gero isn't here to tell you what to do. He died before you awakened. He's never been here to tell you what to do; yet you do what he wanted you to. Why are you letting a dead man control your actions?" That question touched a major nerve within him. He abruptly rose to his feet, grabbed her by the collar and forced her to stand up as well. Eye to eye with her, he screamed in her face, "Because I don't know what else to do! I have always been an outcast, from the day I first awakened! I want revenge for how I was treated! I'm angry with them for being so lucky, and I want to make them feel the devastation I have always felt! I'm alone in a world where everyone else is happy! No one knows how I feel!"   
  
Laura's blood was boiling with sheer rage. She found herself tensing up in preparation for a very large battle, although she hadn't consciously decided to do so. She angrily reached out and slapped Cell across the face with all her strength. He took a small step back, taken completely by surprise. Clenching her fists, she screamed right back at him, "Do you really think you're the only one in the world who has ever felt that way? You sorry fool! You're not alone!" He backed away, utterly astonished at her display of her fiery temper. "Look at me!" She lunged forward, grabbed him by the throat and forced him to look into her eyes. "Look at me, curse you!" He struggled, but she only tightened her grip on him. "A thousand curses on your black, twisted heart and soul, you will look at me or I will kill you where you stand!" He looked into her blazing blue eyes, amazed and dismayed at the fact that he was cowering before her. Her pretty face twisted in a snarl of purest rage and she said in a low, threatening growl; "Now you listen to me, Cell. I was born blue, butt first, brain damaged and barely breathing. I'm physically retarded and it takes almost all of my concentration just to maintain my balance and not fall down and land on my face. I grew up with absolutely no friends, I practically raised myself and I went insane at the age of nine! You think you're the only one who has ever desired revenge for bad treatment by the others? Do you really think you're the only one who wants to make them suffer the things you've had to put up with? Get a life and join the club, you moronic toad! You don't know what else to do? I've never known what I'm supposed to do! It's been a very long time since I even felt connected to reality! Do you see all these scars on my arm? I did that! I used to hurt myself just for fun! My very favorite pastime was attempting suicide and my life's dream was to die! You're a fool if you think you're completely alone in how you feel! Thousands of people feel the same way as you do!"   
  
Having said her piece, she released Cell and turned away from him. He got over the fear she had made him feel, as his embarrassment at having been frightened by a small girl swiftly became a blinding anger. Then he lunged forward and grabbed her from behind, growling harshly, "No one makes a fool out of me and lives! I'll make you pay for humiliating me!" She held still in his grip, turning to look at him over her shoulder with a smirk. She giggled evilly and said, "Don't tell me you forgot, Cell. We're in my mind here. The psyche is far wider than the sky. In my mind, I can do and become whatever I wish to do and become. And, since I am a powerful psychic, I can read your every thought and use them against you if I so desire. Your mind is like an open book to me, Cell. You can keep no secrets with me, no matter how you may try to hide them from me. Try as you might to stop me, I can do whatever I may want with you, whenever and however I may want. Cell, I know what you fear the most."   
  
Cell abruptly released her and then staggered back as her lithe little body began to twist and distort. He recoiled in a frenzy of stark terror as she grew into a fifteen-foot-tall monstrosity. It had huge red batwings and its lean, strong body was covered with a red carapace. Its feet were somewhat birdlike in structure and it had three wicked talons on each hand. A large bony frill protected its ridged neck and a razor-sharp horn curved like a scimitar from its head. It had a long prehensile tail with a deadly barbed tip at the end of it, almost like the needle that had tipped the tail of his first form. Serrated spikes grew from its shoulders and knees, feet and elbows. It opened its jaws and gave a chilling cry and he saw that it also had cruel fangs. Flexing its lethal claws, it took a step toward Cell. He was frozen with fear, a look of stark terror on his face. As it drew closer to him, he backed away from it. His voice shook, as he begged it, "No… Please…" He spread his black wings to fly away, but then it attacked him with the speed of a striking cobra. Cell fell to the ground with a terrible cry of pain and a sudden spray of purplish blood, clutching at the huge bloody wound in his shoulder that now crippled his entire left arm. He momentarily writhed in supreme pain, and then he slowly forced himself to stand back up. Looking over at his inhuman assailant, he saw that there was blood on the talons of its right hand. It had dealt him an injury of that great a magnitude with just one single swipe of its terrible claws? The pain was almost unbearable, but he determinedly forced himself to remain standing, then leapt backward, spread his glossy black wings and left the ground behind him as fast as he could possibly manage to go. It initially didn't follow him into the sky, and Cell thought for a moment that he was going to be safe from it. Maybe he could escape. Would he now be safe from its attacks? Looking back down to where it had been, he saw that it had vanished. Cell didn't make a sound as he looked back down at where it had been with no small amount of trepidation and silently prayed that it was really gone. Where had it gone when it disappeared? Had it really left?  
Then he screamed in shocked pain and stark terror as massive jaws closed on his chest. The creature had come from out of nowhere to seize him. He struggled against its grip, vainly beating against its armor-plated snout with his one working hand. He felt its sharp fangs starting to create tiny stress fractures in his armor, dangerously close to his vitals. Soon his armor would break under the pressure. His scream of pain became a choked gurgle as blood jetted from his mouth. He struggled and kicked in a frantic, desperate bid for freedom. Cell gave an especially loud scream of maddening agony and fear so sharp that it could kill, as its sharp fangs finally penetrated his armor and sank into his vitals. Seeing great rivers of his blood flowing from the creature's terrible jaws made the last vestiges of Cell's composure vanish completely. He began to plead for mercy and for an end to the pain. "No! Please! Stop it! Stop! No more! Let me go! Let me go! God, oh God, please stop! I'll do anything you ask! Anything! Just don't hurt me anymore!" The creature made a peculiar huffing sound almost like a form of laughter, then rapidly spun in place and tossed the screaming, sobbing Cell back down toward the plateau.   
  
He hit the dusty ground with a wet-sounding clatter, actually bounced once as he kicked up a large cloud of dry dust, then just laid there limp in a spreading pool of his own blood, looking for all the world to be dead. The creature transformed back into the form of Laura and she slowly drifted down to land beside Cell. She knelt down by him and looked him over. He was still breathing, albeit barely. His limbs twitched feebly and rich arterial blood bubbled from the grievous wounds to his chest. Thick streams of blood frothed from both his nose and his mouth. He choked and then coughed weakly, spraying more blood as his tortured body feebly convulsed. Laura laid a gentle hand on his good shoulder. He slowly opened his eyes and looked up at her. Cringing slightly, realizing that he was unable to escape, he gave a soft moan. "…Please… Don't…" She smiled at him in a reassuring manner, shook her head ever so slightly and said in a soft voice, "Don't worry. I won't. I'm sorry for what I did to you. I lost control of my temper, my transformation and myself. Cell, I'm going to help you now." Her whole body began to burn with a bright pale blue light. He didn't have the strength to fight back as she reached out and gently took him in her arms and just plain held him close. Cell's mind blanked out for a moment. When reality returned, he found that he was uninjured.   
  
She released him and he stood up. He looked to her for an explanation for why she had helped him out, but she didn't give him one. Instead, she simply said, "I can do more for you, Cell…much more. If you will let me do my thing, I can release you from the programming Doctor Gero gave you. The urge to kill and destroy will leave you, and you will gain the ability to be happy with life. You can settle down and just live out your life in peace. Your real personality will shine through, rather than your destructive programming. I happen to know that you hide deep within your heart a very different self. If you let me minister to you, you will become like…me… Kind, gentle…but with a rather nasty temper that can be quite terrible and vicious when it's aroused. I can do so much for you, Cell… And if you allow me to do this, I will also return you to life the first chance I get." Excited by the thought of returning to the land of the living, he gave her a half grin and replied simply, "Do it." Reaching out to lay gentle hands on his face, she said softly, trying to keep him as calm as she possibly could, "Close your eyes." He obediently closed his eyes, relaxed and tried to stay calm.   
Then he stiffened with a small gasp of shock as she began her psychic ministrations. It felt like he had a nest of snakes writhing inside his head. The sensation wasn't painful, but it was unbearable nonetheless. The strangeness of it astonished him. After a short moment, his mind went completely blank and his entire body involuntarily relaxed completely. Laura smiled softly as he gave a huge sigh and slumped down with his head lying against her shoulder. A short moment later, he recovered and then looked back up at her with a shy little smile, now a whole new person. "Hi there," he said to her softly.   
  
In the space of a few moments, they were sitting side by side. Cell said, "You seem to know more about me than I do, yet I know nothing about you. Please… Tell me about yourself." Laura asked, "What year is it right now?" He replied, "Uh…2001. Why?" She said, "Then this is really the distant past for me. My true name is Laura Lynn Meisenheimer and my parallel universe self, the one in your universe, is now living in America, in the state of Illinois, in a relatively large suburb near the city of Chicago. I have already told you all about how she used to be…until very recently. She has begun to mature from a state that is comparable to your energy-absorbing form, in which she required large, regular infusions of artificially created chemicals in order to insure her survival. Right now, she has been in her final form for about three weeks. And as for her physical appearance… Well, she looks just like me, but with much shorter hair." Just as she finished her narration, she felt a warm lightness inside her body. "Hey, Cell," she said, "It's time for us to return to the land of the living. I'll go first and then return you to life from there right after that, okay?"  
  
Jadeite opened her eyes to see Cell leaning over her. He smiled at her and said, "Thank goodness you've recovered. You had me worried for a while there." She stood up and looked around. Preparing to summon the Staff of Ra, she found that she already held it. She turned to Cell and said, "While I was out, I paid a visit to the Other World. I met my enemy there and we had a little heart to heart chat. He asked me to bring him back to life. I said yes." Then she turned away from him, raised the Staff of Ra high over her head and called out compellingly, "Arise, fallen champion of shadow!" An aura of pure power settled over the entire area. Everyone who had the ability to sense power levels turned to face Jadeite. "Hear me, changed one…" The energy felt almost like healing energy, but it wasn't quite the same, and it seemed as if it weren't all in the same dimension as them. "Son of darkness who has given himself over to the light, I demand that you listen and you will obey me…" The air grew heavy. Clouds darkened the sky and thunder rang from out of nowhere. Jadeite continued to summon up more power, churning the sky into smoky shards. "Return to the land of the living, even as I speak your name…" Then a bright nimbus blazed to life around Jadeite. What she was doing was about to happen. "CELL! Black warrior, child of evil turned to good… I command you to awaken!"   
  
A ball of light resembling a miniature sun floated forth from the ruby of the Staff of Ra. As it drifted toward the ground, it grew larger until it was a full eight feet in diameter. It touched down right beside Cell, who was watching it with uncertain awe. Then it exploded with a crash far louder than any thunderbolt. Everyone cringed. When they dared to look again, they saw an almost perfect duplicate of Cell standing where the ball of light had previously been. There was only one difference between the two hybrids. One of them had been badly burned. He and his double stared at each other for a long moment. Finally, the burned one decided to speak up. "Whoa," he said, "Man, you do look just like me." Shade fairly shrieked in Jadeite's face, "You brought him back? Have you gone insane?" Jadeite didn't even flinch. She just replied calmly, "This isn't the same Cell who died, Shade. He's free of the programming given by his creator. It was that programming talking before. Now it's the real him. Just like Jade Falcon and me." Shade backed off, but Vegeta of the other dimension stepped forward and gave Cell a threatening look. He gave an alarmed squeak and backed off in a hurry. Jadeite turned to him and said, "You don't have to thank me for bringing you back to life. Random acts of kindness are a way of life for me. But I think it would be for the best if you left." He nodded to her silently, took a running leap into the sky and flew away as fast as he could. Jadeite turned to the rest and then said loudly, "Hey, you guys! No going after Cell, now! I just turned him into a good guy!" Everyone nodded at her statement. Shade came up to her and asked, "What do we do now? How do we get back to our home dimension?" Jadeite replied, "I don't really know. I think if we put all our powers together, all of the Saiyans and hybrids working together, maybe we can get back to our home dimension."  
  
Flying away, Cell lost himself in thought. I wish I could pay her back for her kindness to me. But she wouldn't accept it, no matter what I would do. Is there a way for me to repay her? Then he remembered what she had told him about her other self. Where was she at again? Ah, yes. I remember it now. She lives near the city of Chicago, which is in America. What is Chicago? What is America? To heck with trying to find this Chicago place. I'll just follow her power level. It has to be identical to the girl I just talked to. He closed his eyes and sent his awareness out in all directions. Then, on the other side of the world, he felt her. If he flew at his maximum speed, he would get there in just a few hours. He began to fly just as fast as he could. But what would he do when he got there? He hoped that the answer would become clear when he saw her. Lost in thought as he was, the hours passed in a blur. Soon he was cruising over the central region of America.   
  
He was being very careful to make no noise as he flew and to also stay out of sight. Soon he reached his destination, a smallish blue two-story house with black shutters and white trim. The house was in a quiet neighborhood and there was a small patch of woods across the street from the house. Those woods would make a perfect home. But where was the girl? His dappled green armor allowed him to blend in with the forest's undergrowth and go unseen. He watched the road before her house, waiting for a sign of her. Hours passed.  
  
Then, at last, he saw her. She was walking down the street toward the smallish blue house, a battered old blue backpack jauntily slung over her right shoulder as she walked onward. She wore a stained sleeveless white denim shirt and a pair of faded light blue denim shorts. Leather sandals made a peculiar hollow clatter on the pavement. Shoulder length brown hair swung from side to side with each and every step she took. Blue and gold glasses glittered in the bright sunlight. Cell's eyes went wide at the sight of her. She's beautiful, he thought, My God, am I falling in love? It was then that he knew what he was going to do and he knew what was his destiny. He would court her secretly as a mystery suitor and reveal his true identity to her when the time was right. But for now… For now, he would hide and act in secret, praying for the day when he could reveal it all.  
Far away from where Cell quietly watched the girl walk by, Jadeite and the rest of the crew from her home dimension had learned that they would have to spend a full year in this dimension before the proper opportunity would come for them to even attempt a dimensional hop. Everyone went his or her own way to spend the year in the manner they so desired, promising to return at the end of the year. The hybrids all chose to take to the Amazon Rainforest and spend the year there. They would spend their time training. Such was the way of life for all of the hybrids. The Saiyans all headed for the Himalayas to train themselves and grow stronger. Vegeta, Goku and the rest followed along with them. They could never resist a chance to grow stronger. That was a way of life for all of them.  



	3. Winter Problems, A Burglar, An Attack, T...

Jadeite, being the only one there who was able to transform and take on the form of a normal human woman, decided to go down to spend the year in Illinois. Being a powerful psychic being by nature, he knew exactly what the Cell of the other dimension was up to. And she would secretly watch him as he courted her parallel universe twin. She didn't know why the heck she was doing it, but it seemed to be the right thing for her to do.  
  
For a few weeks now, Laura had been finding flowers, notes and odd little gifts stashed in strange places. She even received a heart made of reddish stone that looked as if it had been carved by human fingers. But that wasn't at all logical. Stone couldn't be shaped by a human's touch! She also sometimes felt a very strange presence that came around into the immediate area every so often. The presence felt like that of a very strong person who was different from all others, but she also felt that it meant no harm to anyone, least of all her. Whoever her mysterious suitor was, she trusted him not to hurt her or anyone else.   
  
The days grew shorter and colder as summer turned to fall. In the depths of the night, Cell took to gently forcing open Laura's window and sneaking into her bed as she slept. He knew she took sleeping pills, so she wouldn't wake up and find him there. He truly enjoyed those nights, sleeping with his head against her shoulder and his arm over her. No matter how cold it got, he always made sure to come in late at night and leave early in the morning. And he made sure to leave the bed and the window like he'd found them. He left no clues to his presence or his actions save for one single simple thing. Laura had nightly dreams of having someone get in bed with her and sleep with her. The dreams were very pleasant and she enjoyed them. But why was she having those strange dreams?   
  
Winter came and the temperature dropped well below normal. Cell made a makeshift shelter out of fallen branches and spent most of his time huddled inside it, trying in vain to keep out of the frigid wind. He still visited Laura, but he had stopped sneaking into her room. He didn't want her to have to feel the bitter cold. As the weather got colder and colder and the snow piled up higher and higher, he steadily got weaker and weaker. He felt that time was quickly running out for him. Despair took over his mind and he felt that he would soon betray the woman he secretly loved by dying. If only he could reveal himself to her! If only there were somewhere warm for him to hide out for the duration of the winter! But there was nothing at all. He could feel himself dying moment by moment, and with each moment his despair grew. His love for Laura would surely outlive him, for he was sure that time was definitely growing short. The end was swiftly coming for him. He was certain that he could count his remaining life span in terms of just a few days.  
One cold, dark night, he hovered by her window and looked in on her as she slept. He could feel the delightful warmth that waited just on the other side of the glass, and that made the wind feel ever so much colder to him. She was soundly asleep and he smiled at the sight of her. He sighed sadly, and the warm air of his breath fogged the window and obscured his view of her. He reached out to wipe the fog from the glass and noticed that his hand was shaking. A thick layer of frost had gathered on his armor and he could barely feel anything anymore. He looked downward and saw that his entire body was now quivering spasmodically. "Oh no," he whispered in a soft, uncertain voice. Then he abruptly lost the strength he needed to hover, and he crashed down on the paved sidewalk below her second-story window. His armor made a loud clattering sound when he landed. The pain caused by hitting the ground brought him around just enough for him to be aware that he had to get up. He slowly stood up and then staggered drunkenly toward the woods. Barely conscious even as he walked onward, he stumbled and fell a few times, plunging his arms into the snow right up to his elbows. But still he pressed onward. He reached his makeshift shelter and collapsed before he could even enter it, quietly slipping into oblivion. His very last conscious thought was of Laura and of his great love for her.  
  
Laura had skipped her sleeping pills that night, and so she heard the sounds outside her window. A loud clatter drew her attention. Springing to her window, she looked outside and saw a dark form stumbling toward the woods. Seeing the figure fall and then force itself to stand back up made her sure that the unknown person needed help. She jumped over her bed and tore into her closet, throwing on warm clothes, then silently charged downstairs and rapidly put on her coat and her boots. She also snatched a flashlight from a nearby shelf. Flinging the door open, she ran out into the night. Swinging the flashlight around to scan the area, she found tracks. She followed the tracks and found that they led into the woods. Not giving the matter a second thought, she entered the dark woods. An almost inaudible alien sound throbbed as a low pulse and lured her in ever closer to it.   
  
Soon the beam of her flashlight shone on the form of a manlike creature. It lay face down in the snow, not moving. When she saw it, she knew that the sound she had been hearing was the sound of its breathing. Frost coated its entire body, but below that she could see hints of green and black. She rolled it onto its back and got a good look at its face. She was then able to identify it as a male. He looked awfully familiar, too… Pushing that thought from her mind, she decided to wake him up so she could get him into her house. Wasting no time, she began to slap him across the face. His head limply rolled to the left and then to the right as she struck him on the left cheek and then the right. She only stopped when the rhythm of his breathing changed and she heard a soft little moan from him. He began to shiver spasmodically, curling up around himself in a vain attempt to stay warm. She helped him up, supporting him with her own body, and slipped her coat over his shoulders. It was her opinion that he needed it more than she did at that moment. His shivering subsided slightly as the warm fabric touched his half-frozen body. He gave her a look of confused torment as she draped her scarf around his neck. His expression of pain and suffering strengthened her resolve to help him. She gave him a reassuring smile and said, "Come on, then. Let's get you somewhere warm." Barely conscious as he was, he only understood the tone of her voice. He repeated in a low, uncomprehending tone, "Somewhere…warm…?" She just nodded. "That's absolutely right," she said, "Warm."   
Then she helped him to stand up and walk. She was almost unable to stand up with him leaning against her. He was very weak, so she had to support a significant percentage of his weight and he wasn't exactly light. She had to move rather slowly because he just couldn't handle a quicker pace without staggering and nearly losing his balance. A couple times he stumbled and they both nearly fell, but Laura managed to get him to try it again. Soon they were at the door to her house. She quietly opened the door wide and they slipped in the house. She realized that she didn't have to be very quiet about the whole deal because her family was out for the night. They would all arrive back home in the early morning. But quietness was a trait that she held dear to her, and so she entered the house as silently as a phantom. Barely pausing once inside, she helped him to climb the stairs to her room. Once they were up there, she let him lie down in her bed and then gently draped several downy blankets over his shivering form. She looked at his face and thought, God, he's so handsome. Then she noticed his eyes. They were halfway open in pure fatigue, and she noticed that they were an almost fluorescent shimmering coral color. He looked up at her and smiled faintly, and then whispered something inaudible as he lost consciousness and his body slowly relaxed. She said to him softly, "Don't worry. Everything's going to be fine. You'll see. Just rest." For a few relatively long minutes, she just looked at him. Then, finally, she whispered quietly, "Who are you, anyway?"   
  
A short moment's thought made her remember the newspaper archive research she'd been doing for her college class on recent worldwide events. She'd been preparing a rather large essay on a very strange event that had occurred earlier in the year. On May 19, somewhere in Japan, a World Martial Arts Tournament had been held to decide the fate of the entire planet. The tournament had been created as a challenge by a strange creature that had referred to itself as Cell. On the day of the tournament, a small young woman had challenged Cell…and defeated him. Stranger still were the corroborating reports that the woman had actually transformed several times, that a double of Cell had appeared from out of nowhere and that the girl had even resurrected Cell after killing him. Now, if she recalled her information correctly, she had a pretty good picture of Cell from right before the tournament began, taken by a relatively daring news photographer via a zoom lens. Rummaging around through a largish pile of old newspapers that she'd collected for research material to use in her essay, she finally found the photograph that she had sought. Then she looked between the evil creature in the old picture and the unconscious inhuman being that now lay limp in her bed, halfway dead from the winter's bitter cold. They were exactly the same being. It was right then that she finally realized the truth. "Holy cow," she whispered, "I just rescued Cell?" The idea was rather startling, but not nearly as startling as the fact that she found him to be very handsome. She swore to help him, to see to his health until he had fully recovered. She quietly left her room and closed the door behind her so he could have privacy as she went to look in her first-aid handbook and find out how to properly treat someone who had nearly frozen to death.   
  
She didn't take a look, so she didn't notice that Cell was already beginning to recover. He was no longer unconscious. Rather, he was merely asleep. He dreamed of Laura's face and of reassuring words spoken to him. Fragments of recent memories drifted through his dreams. He really didn't know what had happened to him. Was he alive? Was he dead? Where was he? He didn't understand what was going on, but he knew that he was safe.  
Upon going downstairs, she noticed that the air was abnormally cold. That was strange, but she drove the thought from her mind. She opened the basement door-and came face to face with a masked burglar. "Well, well, well," the robber said coldly, "I was just going to rob this house, but now it looks like I get some action too." She broke out of her terrified paralysis as the man lunged at her. This just couldn't be happening to her. She wasn't exactly a religious girl by nature, but the situation was more than enough to make anyone call on God. "Lord Jesus, save me!" She barely managed to evade him, retreating across the room. Still he came after her. "Dear Christ, have mercy on me!" No one was there to hear her cries. "Help me!" Why did she continue to yell for help if there was no one who could respond to her cries? "Please help me!" She evaded the man's lunges, but he was quickly closing in on her. There was nowhere else to run or hide. "Oh God, have mercy!" Her worst case scenario came true as he seized her by the throat. She froze as his hand came down to grasp her pants. She couldn't believe that this was actually happening to her. He couldn't be planning to… "No, no, not that!" She felt a rush of cold air as both her pants and her underpants were torn away. Stark terror overwhelmed her. "Please!" Nausea rose in her stomach. "Please let me go!" He snarled in her face, "Shut up, you! Do you want to wake up the dead?" She just shook her head wildly, tears streaking her face as she cried out. "Help me! Save me! Lord, have mercy!" He viciously slapped her across the face to shut her up and then prepared to get right down to business with her.   
  
Screams. They resonated in Cell's sleeping mind and dragged him out of oblivion. He slowly opened his eyes and saw that he lay in a room, in someone's bed. This was the first time he'd been warm since…he couldn't remember when he'd last been warm. The screams drew his attention once again, and this time he could recognize the voice. Laura! That simple knowledge gave him the strength that he needed to act. He tore the blankets off of him and leapt up to his feet. Practically tearing the door off of its hinges, he left her room and momentarily paused at the top of the stairs to assess the situation. The burglar was doing something unspeakably gross with his pants, but he hadn't hurt Laura yet. Cell then decided that he had to act on her behalf. Leaping right down the stairs in just a single bound and spreading his glossy black wings wide to make himself look bigger and more menacing, he yelled out in a loud, threatening snarl of a voice, "Leave her alone!"   
  
The burglar looked up at the sound of the voice and promptly did a double take at the sight of a tall figure silhouetted by the faint light coming from the upstairs rooms. The burglar recovered from the shock and then growled at him, "So the handsome prince comes to his lady's rescue. Back off, boy, or I'll shoot you too!" He showed off his gun, but that didn't impress Cell. He'd faced torpedoes, artillery shells, cannons, tanks and even missiles, so the sight of one puny little pistol meant absolutely nothing to him. His voice was a low, threatening rumble as he said, "Release her and get out. Now." The burglar snickered at his threat and replied, "You're in no position to give orders, buddy. I'm the one with the gun, remember?" Cell just replied coldly, "Guns mean nothing to me. Do as I say and I might not hurt you…much." The burglar pointed the gun at Cell's chest. "I've got this aimed right at your heart," he said, "Hold still or I'll shoot you." The hybrid smirked, although the burglar didn't see it. His voice was smooth and mocking as he asked, "Do you know who I am?" The burglar replied in a sharp, sarcastic tone, "Yeah, I do. Some cocky little kid who thinks he can fool me with tricks and bravado." Cell laughed out loud at hearing that, and then said seriously, "I'll show you exactly what you're up against right now. But first, you're going to be coming along with me. Now." He almost seemed to wink out of existence as he used his incredible speed to his ultimate advantage. The burglar didn't even have a chance to know what hit him as Cell grabbed him and used Instant Transmission to take him outside. The burglar fell facedown in the snow, momentarily stunned. Cell used that extra time to drop down into a ready stance. The burglar slowly stood back up and said, "That's a pretty neat trick…for a kid." Then the moonlight illuminated his foe's utterly inhuman form just enough for him to see that he wasn't dealing with any normal kid. His jaw dropped. Cell smirked at him and said in a derogatory tone, "Well, are you ready for this?" Not really waiting for any sort of a response, he just let his aura flare up to its maximum brightness, illuminating the surrounding area as bright as if it were midday. The burglar, his night vision effectively shot, had to blink a few times before he could see his opponent. When he finally saw Cell, his eyes got big and he said, "You can't be Cell! He's dead!" The hybrid replied in a mocking tone, "Can't I?" Where before the man had done something with his pants, he now did something in his pants. Then Cell abruptly disappeared once again. The burglar looked around in confusion…then screamed like a frightened little girl as he was hauled up into the air at a furious speed. Holding his collar in one hand, Cell gave him a look of sheer rage and said, "Now do you believe me?" The burglar just nodded. Then Cell hauled him up to eye level and snarled in his face, "Let's get this straight: I could've torn you to shreds…snapped you in half…ripped your butt off and made you eat it! If I find you snooping around here again, there won't be enough left of you to fill a thimble! You got that?" To prove his point, he tossed the burglar toward the ground so far below, caught him just before he would have hit the ground like an overripe melon and swooped him right back up into the sky. He snarled again, "I said, you got that?" The terrified burglar screamed, "Yes! Yes, I do! Just don't kill me!" Cell sneered at him and then took the man for a high-speed ride, dropping him off right at the police station's doorstep.   
  
Then he returned to the house as fast as he could. He walked inside, closing and locking the door behind him, and knelt by Laura. She was unconscious, but she was also largely unhurt. All she had were a few bruises and some bad memories. Wasting no more time, he picked her up in his arms and carried her back upstairs. The fact that she was so small truly amazed him. He laid her in her bed and draped the blankets over her. Having nightmares about her recent attack, she squirmed in bed and made peculiar little mewling sounds. Not quite knowing what else to do for her, he just climbed into bed beside her. Unconsciously sensing a warm, strong, unthreatening presence, she cuddled in closer to Cell. Thinking back on those summer nights long ago, Cell happily let himself fall asleep.   
  
Laura awakened in the middle of the night, but she wasn't completely awake yet. Feeling the presence of the person who she was sharing her bed with; she turned in bed and laid a gentle hand on Cell's arm. His armor was perfectly warm, rather than icy cold as it had been before. Something hidden deep within her soul told her that his mind and body now burned with fully restored life. She smiled and murmured softly, "He's all right now." Then she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and whispered to him ever so softly, "You are my dark angel…" For the first time in her entire life, she didn't cling to her favorite stuffed animal as she drifted back to sleep. Rather, she nestled up against Cell's side.   
Early morning saw Cell leaving the house to return to his hideout in the forest. Laura raided the storeroom and her closet to give him several thick, downy quilts. Her family came and she told them of the thwarted robbery, but not of Cell. She had them believing that she had stopped the burglar. Set on edge by the previous night's encounter with the burglar and heartened by the knowledge that she had a protector, she returned to school the next day. Gym class saw her working out twice as hard as everyone else and her peers noticed that her confidence had skyrocketed. It was as if she had become a whole new person. She regaled her classmates with tales of the thwarted robbery and acted as if the whole deal were nothing more than a day's work for her. But, unbeknownst to her, the burglar whom Cell had thwarted attended her school. And he had many friends. He was plotting and planning, but he decided to wait until spring. Then her guard would be down.  
  
The bus driver had missed her stop, so Laura got off the bus on an adjacent street and began to walk the few blocks that would take her home. She stopped in mid-step as a group of large boys surrounded her. They were obviously from the football squad; she could tell that much just by looking at them. And the relatively small fellow who led the lot of them was the burglar she had met before. He snickered at the sight of her and said, "Look what we have here. You have some nerve, taking credit for that freak's actions. But he isn't here now, and this time I have friends with me." He looked to his left and then to his right, and the other boys got ready for a fight the moment he looked their way. As he spoke his threats, Laura suddenly realized that she wasn't scared of them in the least. I feel different today. Thoughts of Cell drifted through her mind, and the thought of him energized her. I feel strong. She blinked, and, for a moment, she saw herself as him. It's not like before. Looking at her enemy, she smiled and said, "This time it won't go like before." Then he said simply, "You die. Now." In that same instant, she prayed silently. God… The boys slowly advanced on her, but she held her ground and showed them absolutely no fear. Grant me the power and strength of Cell… She could feel a wild sensation building within her. Just this once… For a moment, she imagined herself standing outside her body. Looking at herself, she could see a transparent silhouette of Cell superimposed on her image. It was then that her wish was granted. Something within her opened up, washing over her in waves. Feeling like a new person, she glanced down, then inhaled with a sharp hiss. As soon as it began, it filled my body to overflowing! For a moment, she wondered about what she was feeling. Is this the power of Cell? She startled the approaching boys by laughing out loud. A short second later, she attacked them.   
  
Cell felt the release from his hiding place and took to the air to find its source. High in the air, watching the ground below with vision as keen as that of a hawk, she saw Laura engaged in battle against a group of big, burly boys. It seemed as if she danced as she attacked, pirouetting as she let fly with a rapid-fire series of punches and kicks. He felt a strange energy emanating from her. It felt like…his own? A moment's thought gave him the answer, telling him what had happened to her. She invoked a psychotic rage, fueling her anger with her own life energy? She has the same power as I do? That would explain why her attack pattern was like a more artistic version of his own. She had used her perceptions of him as a psychic template for reconstructing herself in order to fight them. He was astonished by how much she had changed in the moments since he had arrived. It was bizarre to see a small teenage girl like her acting as if she was just as strong as Cell. He snapped back to reality, pushing his swirling thoughts away and turning his attention back to Laura. The boys were running away in a frantic, disordered retreat. Laura stood in the middle of what had just been a battlefield; breathing heavily and watching them retreat. Moving as if she were consumed with an unnatural hunger, she prepared to chase them. Cell was astonished to hear her thoughts echoing within his mind. The power! She cackled insanely. More! She almost seemed to writhe in throes of what seemed to be pure pleasure. Give me more power! Her body convulsed, but she didn't seem to notice. Her joy just seemed to be increasing as she released more power. More power! She didn't seem to care that she was effectively destroying herself by calling forth that much power all at once. Release more energy! Her body convulsed again, more violently this time.   
  
Cell figured that if he could hear her thoughts, she could hear his. He sent out, (No!) Then he dropped from the sky in order to stop her. I have to hold it back! He grabbed her and held her tight. I can't let her increase the power anymore! Doing all he could to stop her, he held her as she writhed. I can't let her release all this energy! He sent into her mind, hoping she would hear, (This power that fuels your life…I won't let you use it this way!) The only response he received was an incensed scream. He could feel her thoughts. Someone is trying to hold me back! She wouldn't give up trying to call forth the power. I just have to hold on for just a little longer. Once the power is released, I'll no longer need this body! Cell gasped in horror. I'll tear out of this body and destroy the world! He screamed in her mind, trying to force some sense into her with sheer decibel power,   
(I WON'T LET YOU!)  
It was then that he sensed the tiny mote of awareness that floated somewhere out beyond the raging storm of power. It was the true Laura. Where am I? She floated in a dark void, shut away from her body by the power that blazed through her. It's so dark and scary… A deep rumble startled her. Something keeps chasing me! I'm scared! Somebody help me! As faint as starlight, she felt a comfortingly familiar presence spring up deep within her mind. (Laura…) She turned and saw a bright light shining within the depths of her mind. She moved toward that light, not knowing or caring how she did it. She soon saw a small crystalline star and instinctively knew what it was. It's my self! She took it in her hands and held it to her. I'm so glad. I was so worried when I lost it. It felt as if a hole had been torn in me. The familiar presence hovered comfortingly close, looking at her with an expression of warm happiness. (It's part of you. That's right. It's you. You can't let it get away from you again. You can't go letting your power run rampant. Just close it away inside you and protect it.) Laura had curled up and effectively fallen asleep, having finally regained control over her body and her newly discovered power. Is that you, Mom? She felt as if she had gone back in time. She hadn't felt this way since she had been a small child. No, I'm not in Mom's arms. It's kind of hazy, and big and open. But I feel so safe. She barely felt it as a white hand touched her face. Cell took her in his arms and held her close. (It's all right. I'll protect you.) He felt the storm of power quieting and knew that things would soon be all right for her and for him, but the danger hadn't fully passed. Such power couldn't go without training; otherwise she would lose control again. (I won't let your inner darkness have your pure soul or your innate power.) A determined look settled on his face as a steadfast resolve took hold of him. (I'll save you.)   
Back in the real world, Laura had lost consciousness. Cell still held her in his arms as his mind returned to reality. When he was fully back in the real world, he took to the air, carrying her. He took her to his hideout and wrapped her in a couple of the blankets she had given him. Sitting back against a tree stump, he rested and waited for her to wake up. Even though he had no idea how long it would take her to recover, he decided that he had plenty of time on his hands. There was no hurry. He could wait as long as was necessary.   
  
His resolve to wait as long as necessary was rendered a moot point as Laura stirred slightly and gave a soft sigh. She awakened disoriented and removed the blankets and sat up. Looking around, she saw Cell leaning up against a tree while staring at her and was astonished to see him. She said, "You came back? I saved you…you saved me… I had figured you would have left after that. By the way, what happened back there? I had an attack. Did you beat those dorks up and save my butt again?" He replied, "I did nothing. I merely arrived on the scene after the fact. I didn't fight the attackers. You did." Her eyes went wide. She said, "I did? But how could I have done that? I've never fought before in my life and those guys were twice my size!" Cell laughed out loud. Then he said, "You really don't remember! You beat all of them single-handedly in minutes…using powers equal only to my own!" Laura practically fainted on the spot. She fairly yelped, "No way! I'm just a normal kid!" "No," he replied, "You're not." Unable to understand and accept that fact, she just got up and ran away. Cell winced and just watched her as she left.  
  
She entered her house, only to be confronted by both of her parents. "We heard about what happened today," her father said, "You've discovered your hidden powers." Her mother continued, "It's time you knew the truth about your past and yourself. You may want to sit down for this." They all sat down. Her father said, "As you know, it took a long time for your mother to get pregnant and have Jimmy. But what you don't know is that we had the same trouble with you." Her mother continued, "We were both desperate for a child. Jimmy was pure luck, but, to have you, we had…help. We went to a doctor to see about in vitro fertilization. Back then, the idea was as radical as a trip to Mars. No one would help us. Then we found Doctor Gero. He promised to help us out…for a price. He would impregnate me, but only with an embryo of his choosing." Her father took it from there; "The embryo he gave us was the ultimate result of one of his secret projects. He intended to create a super being. Anyway, the embryo had undergone massive genetic alterations and could barely even be considered human anymore. He told us that the child would go through the first stages of its life looking like any normal human. But when it hit adulthood, it would…change. We were also told that the child would need regular doses of artificial chemicals in order to survive until it could make the change to its true form. We accepted the proposition anyway; figuring a child was a child no matter what species it was. And, nine months later, we had you." Her mother then said, "That's why you went in for yearly checkups even when they weren't supposed to be needed. And the antidepressants you take…are not really antidepressants." Her father continued, "And as for the attacks you've been having… The time of the change is near. Your body is beginning to feel it. Do you remember the attack you had that landed you in the hospital? We were sure that was the time of your awakening. But it was way too early. That's why you were hospitalized. Then the brain scan determined that it was only a false start." Literally floored by the news and the story, Laura asked, "Is there any more to the story? Do either of you have any idea of what I'll look like after that…change…is done?" Her mother fielded that question. She said, "When we went in to see him, Doctor Gero told us about another attempt he was making to create a super being. This one would be born as a test tube child, and it wouldn't be anything close to human. Not even at first. He showed us a picture of what it would probably look like when it was an adult. God in heaven, I'll never forget what I saw that day…" Her father continued, "Do you remember how we reacted to the news of the Cell Games? The picture Doctor Gero showed us all those years ago…it was of Cell. When the change comes, you will become like him." Laura gasped. Then she became angry. Feeling her face turning a deep red, she clenched her fists and hissed lowly, "So I'm not really your daughter… I'm an experiment? You mean I grew up loving you as my parents when I wasn't even of the same species as you? You mean I longed to be the same as other kids when I was destined to become something weirder than what I already was? I'm not even human?" Her temper shot through the roof and she let out an incensed scream. The ground began to shake violently beneath her feet. Her father gasped softly, "The change… It's beginning!" It was then that Laura bolted.  
  
Her blood was literally boiling. Her skin felt like it was too tight and on the verge of splitting open. She felt as though her muscles and bones were writhing and twisting into new shapes. In pain, she sprinted as she had never sprinted before, tearing past the forest Cell called home and continuing on as if nothing could stop her. She ran between houses and across busy streets, stopping only when she reached a small stream by a forest and an open meadow. Then she fell to her knees, pushing away the pain for a moment. There was a soft, queer hiss as something passed through the air, then Cell stood beside her. She looked up at him and said, "I just learned the truth. I wasn't born…I was created. The man who created me is the man who created you! I'm not human! I only look human! And now…the metamorphosis is starting… Stay back! Who knows what'll happen?" As knocked for a loop by the information as she had been, he just obediently backed off.   
  
Giving a cry of pain, she quickly stood up. Cell watched in pure revulsion at the sight of strange ripples moving underneath her skin. Her skin became a bloodless white as it was stretched to its maximum. Cell winced and was glad that he didn't need to eat as he heard the wet sounds of her skin tearing under the pressure of what lay beneath it. Peculiar bulges began to appear beneath her taut skin. Her shirt tore in half and she became a monstrous hunchback as something beneath the skin of her back pushed the skin upward. Her head elongated unnaturally, stretching her hair. Blood poured from the newly created rips, but not nearly as much as he would have expected. It was as if her skin was just a sheath covering…something else. Her hands came up, her fingertips digging deep into the tears in her skin. Cell gave a strangled cry of disgust as she began to peel the splitting skin away from whatever it was that lay beneath it. It tore away easily, as if she were merely taking off a mask. He caught flashes of a milk-white face streaked with a bright red. Slender bloodstained hands showed patches of flesh that was the same chalky color. Flexing her shoulders and leaning her head forward, she purposely created a huge tear in the flesh that ran along her spinal column. She brought her hands around and dug her fingertips into that rip. Then she pulled her hands forward with a savage brutality that startled Cell, and tore away the rest of her skin. Casting it aside like a worn out wet rag, she dove into the stream to wash the blood of her old self off of the body of her new self. After a few seconds, a totally different creature emerged from the water. Cell could see that it was a hybrid like him. But there were differences in its appearance. It was female, for one thing. And her armor was a beautiful deep blue, whereas his was a dark green. She was a bit shorter than he was, and she was quite slender. Her eyes were a coral color, but they were darker than his were, with bluish overtones. She had big glossy black insect wings and a high double crest, just like him. She climbed out of the water, looked up at him from a low crouch and said in Laura's voice, "What was that all about? I feel so weird. And tired…" Not waiting for a reply from him, she dropped down to the ground and immediately fell asleep. As she slept, Cell sat beside her and marveled at how much she had changed. She had changed drastically, and so had the situation that he was in.   
  
After a few hours, Laura awakened. She stood up and looked at Cell. She said, "This is nuts. Everything got smaller!" He replied, "No, Laura, you just got bigger." Then she said, "I feel better than I ever have before. It's as if restrictions set on my body and soul have been lifted. My body feels…different…" Cell walked around behind her and laid a hand on her left wing. She shuddered at the touch, confused, then said; "This is even weirder! I feel you touching me, but I don't have any idea what you're touching!" He smiled and replied, "Simple, Laura. I'm touching your wing." Shrugging casually, she said, "That would explain it-What did you say?" She spun in place, turning to face him. Then she dropped to her knees by the stream and studied her reflection in the water.   
  
After a moment, she gave a yelp and sat down hard. She whispered, "My dreams… All my dreams… Acceptance… Love and happiness… Gone… All of them gone…" Her shoulders shook as if she had started crying. Cell stepped forward and laid a gentle hand on her back. She looked up at him wordlessly, with tears in her eyes. He said gently, "That's not true, Laura. There is one who loves you still. There is one who is mad with love for you." Then he knelt beside her and hugged her. Laura felt absurd and she looked down to hide the fact that she was blushing. He said, "Before, you asked me why I came back. This is the answer." He gently touched her face. She looked up at him. He smiled and said, "You are incomparably beautiful. I love you. Laura, I am in love with you." Not bothering to reply verbally, she hugged him back. This time it was Cell's turn to blush.   
  
Mutually unable to handle romance yet, they turned to other topics. Laura stammered, "I have power now. Can you teach me how to use it?" He replied, "I don't know how to teach you properly, but I know of someone who can. But, before we can go to him, I'll have to teach you how to fly." Laura said, "Cool! Tell me how! Show me!" Cell smiled at her and replied, "Come on, then. Let's get started, shall we?" She hopped up and down a couple times, totally excited by the prospect of being able to fly. Then the lesson began.  
  
A few hours later, dawn had come and Laura was soaring in great circles high above the land, with Cell by her side. She laughed and cried; "I'm flying! Flying, you hear me?" Then she caught sight of her house in the distance. She turned to Cell and said, "I'm going to see my family. They deserve to know what I have become." He nodded and replied, "Okay. I'll wait for you." Nodding back at him, Laura turned in midair and swooped down toward the house that lay so far below them both. Fairly certain that this would be the last time she would go home, she returned to the house as fast as she could.   
She landed lightly on the front porch and then surreptitiously opened the unlocked door without making so much as a single soft sound. Before she had left the place as a confused child. Now she entered without a clue as to what she had become. Her parents were at the dinner table, having breakfast. They started at the sight of the inhuman being that had just entered the house, looking at her deep blue armor, her glossy black wings, her high double crest and her coral eyes. After a long moment, Laura waved jauntily and said, "Hey, guys. Guess who?" Her mother whispered, "Laura?" She replied, "In the flesh, so to speak. This is what I have become. I'm moving out, guys." Not bothering to say another word to them, she just turned and walked upstairs. Turning left at the top of the stairs, she entered her little brother's room. He was still soundly asleep, curled up under the covers without anything showing, the fan still on to drown out any outside noise. She turned off the fan and waited for a reaction. There was none. Reaching out to the covered form, she shook the bed violently and fairly yelled at him, "Yo! Dingus!" Her brother reacted to her with equal violence, reaching out to smack her before he even opened his eyes. When he did open his eyes, he screamed at the sight of her and practically hit the ceiling. Laura started laughing hysterically at that. Jimmy fairly yelled at her, "What's so darn funny?" She replied, "Come down, you little twerp. It's just me." He said, "Laura?" She nodded to him and replied, "You had better let me explain." He settled down. She said, "Okay. Do you remember Cell?" He nodded. She continued, "Good. A scientist created him in an experiment. Now here's the kicker. He didn't create just Cell. He created a second creature that was just like Cell. This one was born looking like a normal human, but it wasn't a normal human. It would only look human while it was a kid. When it grew up, it would change to look like Cell." He cut in, "What's that got to do with anything?" She replied, "That second creature…was me." He gasped, then said, "I know you're trying to fool me. Everybody says the Cell Games were a trick and that's just a costume you're wearing." To prove his point, he walked up, grabbed her left wing and yanked. She yelped in pain and jerked it back. That made him pause. She scooped him up in her arms and then said, "I see I'm going to have to prove it to you."   
  
Holding him with one arm, she reached out and unlatched the window. She opened it, and moved the screen aside. Laying her wings flat against her back, she climbed through the window with her little brother in her arms. She paused. "Hold on tight," she said. Then she jumped. Rather than hitting the ground like a brick like he had expected, Jimmy found that they were rising. When he dared to look, they were more than two hundred feet in the air. He looked at Laura's face and she said, "Now do you believe me?" He nodded breathlessly, then asked, "Now what?" She smiled, looked away and said, "I'm leaving, Jim. I'm going to see if I can find someone who can teach me how to control the power I now have." She took him back to his room and closed the window from the outside. Waving to Jimmy, she took off into the sky. He just watched her fly away.   
  
She found Cell, who had taken to chasing clouds to keep himself occupied as he waited for her. He said, "How'd it go?" She replied, "Pretty well. I said my farewells and all. Where do we go from here?" He said, "We will go to Japan!" Turning side by side, they swerved in midair and began to head due west. As they flew onward through the morning sky, the sun at their backs, she said, "Cell, I've been doing some major thinking. I need a new name to call myself by. I'm not really Laura anymore. I just can't be her right now. She was a human. I'm not a human. So I need a new name for myself. And I think I have one. I'm as hard to catch as a shadow is and I'm so fast I look like just a flash of color to people who see me. Put those together and you get my name…Shadowflash!" Cell smiled. She had accepted her new identity and what she had become. She just smiled right back at him, accepting his love for her and adding her love for him to the mixture.   
  
Far away but not too far away, Jadeite sensed this turn of events and smiled. Her parallel universe twin had found love, power and answers for the questions that she had been asking all her life. But the year would be over in just a few days. It was nearly time for them to try to do the dimensional hop that would hopefully bring them all back to their home dimension. She decided to leave the area right away. If she left during the night, no one would notice her as she flew off in her hybrid form. Shifting into her true form, she quickly leapt into the air and flew away just as fast as she could possibly manage to go.  
  
The crew was waiting at the plateau, anxious for the Saiyans, hybrids and Mews to come. Goku looked upward and practically jumped right out of his boots at the sight of a pair of hybrids who were coming in for a landing. One of them was Cell. The other one, a slender little female with deep blue armor, he didn't know. They both walked up closer to him. The female seemed to be rather shy, but Cell just stepped right up to him. Gesturing toward her, he said, "Goku, this girl is named Shadowflash. Shadowflash, I want you to meet Goku." He turned to face Goku completely and then proceeded to tell him the origin story that she had told him earlier. After a few relatively long minutes, he finished up, "…So basically she's been a hybrid for less than a full day. She needs to learn to control her powers. I was hoping you could teach her how to do that." Goku stepped up a little bit closer to look Shadowflash over and suddenly found that he was apologizing to her profusely when she blushed furiously and went to hide behind Cell. Then he voiced his acceptance of her as a student. He would indeed teach her to use her powers properly.  
  
It was right then that Jadeite and the others arrived on the scene. Shadowflash looked at the female hybrid that was leading the newcomers and said to Cell, "Do you know her? She looks awfully familiar to me for some reason." Cell smiled and replied, "That's for a good reason. Shadowflash…she's you." She asked, "What the heck do you mean? I'm me!" He answered, "She's from a parallel universe. Do you remember those rumors you heard about a strange girl who defeated me? She was that strange girl. Her name is Jadeite." Almost as if he had called her down from the air, Jadeite landed beside the two of them. She turned to face Shadowflash and quipped, "It's a pleasure to meet me." It didn't take long for Cell and Shadowflash to figure out that Jadeite already knew all about how Shadowflash had become a hybrid. Despite that, they chatted for a while. After a few minutes of that, Jadeite said, "I have to get going. We're all heading home."  
  
Soon all of the Saiyans and hybrids stood together in a group on the high plateau where the Cell Games had taken place. The crew was all there too. They too wanted to get back to their home dimension. The crew of the other dimension was there to see the lot of them off. They all said their farewells and thusly prepared to part ways for all time. Each of them put hands on the shoulders of two others and concentrated, focusing their powers on creating a dimensional rift that would hopefully transport the lot of them back home. Then the Mews came down to sit on their shoulders, two per person, and concentrated as well. A tremendous rift made of pure white light opened in the clear blue sky that stretched into infinite vastness so far above them. Through it could be seen a different smoky gray sky. The crew of the other dimension watched in pure awe as the huge group of travelers rose up into the air and entered the rift. Then it sealed up behind them.  



End file.
